42
Mash Sessions
WI-FI FOR THE
HYBRID AGE
Noba’s Nick Taylor is the latest
guest to join the Mash Sessions
s the dawn of the Hybrid
Age, has it ever been more
important for a strong Wi-Fi
connection? Noba is a Wi-Fi
and event technology specialist business
which was conceived in 2006, and says
it was the first event-specific IT company
in the UK. It was created to service the
demand for high quality Wi-Fi, live
streaming and bespoke software
solutions in the live event sector.
In 2019 it merged with Simpli-Fi,
which provides temporary and
permanent Wi-Fi and IT services to the
events, leisure, construction and
education sectors, forming The
MetaTech Group. The merger enabled
them to expand our delivery capability in
the live events industry, by drawing on
the additional resource of the Simpli-Fi
team.
Nick Taylor is Noba’s co-founder and
took time out to join a Mash Session and
shoot the breeze.
How is the current industry crisis
affecting your business?
We have, of course, seen a significant
drop in revenue from events this year,
but we are fortunate enough not to be
totally reliant on this stream and have
invested the enforced down time in the
R&D side of our business.
Our software development team have
been busy developing solutions for
automated, mass temperature checking
and face mask detection, along with
more customised solutions for
Covid-preventative online event check-in
and virtual/hybrid customised platform
development. We are also currently
working in partnership with one of our
agency clients, XYZ on a 360-camera
solution which will be used for a range of
interactive hybrid brand events, bridging
digital and physical experiences.
You mentioned you have been
investing in R&D. What else have you
developed in response to the current
climate?
We have developed nbox, our new
solution for portable plug and play
internet and enterprise grade Wi-Fi for
smaller scale events and livestreaming.
This solution was developed to meet a
growing demand for cost effective,
reliable connectivity for smaller events
and livestreaming applications.
We’ve taken everything we know
about bonded cellular for large scale
deployments and refined the tech, so it
fits inside a small, highly portable
Pelicase. It still offers many of the
features of our more traditional
connectivity solutions (highly secure,
single public IP address, class leading
Wi-Fi and reliability) while meeting the
budgets of the scaled down. Covid era
event marketplace.
We are also developing our own
contact tracing software that utilises
Bluetooth wearables, beacons and Wi-Fi
to accurately pinpoint staff and guest
movements across a venue space for
the duration of a live event.
Watch the full interview to hear
Taylor’s views on the return of events
and consumer confidence. Head to
Mash TV’s YouTube channel.
www.conference-news.co.uk